Tuesday, June 1, 2010

It's been three weeks Facebook-free, when, in an attempt to choose substance over opiate, I subscribed to The Economist and deleted my Facebook account. Now when I need a Facebook fix, I must instead read analysis of the impact of climate change on Malaysian fishermen.

Mary's (that's me) law of obsession states that obsession can be neither created nor destroyed, although it can change form—and has taken effect. Instead of trawling Facebook photo albums, I'm trawling information, and have already decided it's time to subscribe to Harper's again. Blogs like fivethirtyeight.com and politico.com are showing up on my recent visits tab.

It dawns on me to wonder what Teabaggers actually stand for. Look, there are five official Tea Party web sites. Tea Partiers don't like illegal immigrants or government regulation. But they are different from conservatives because, well I can't tell. Love home foreclosures? Like the Gulf filled with oil? Become a Tea Partier!

Speaking of the Gulf, why does Britain have nothing to say about the BP oil spill? Shouldn't their government be stepping up? What do I don't know I don't know about the governance of global companies? Off to the on-line British papers. Now here's a bit in the Telegraph UK: in order to gain permission to drill off the coast, BP had promised it could handle a spill ten times the size of the current spill, no problemo. Criminal charges are a-brewin . . . not only that . . .

Wadaminit! Quitting FB was supposed to return me to my novel-in-progress, kids, lawn, business, preparing fresh healthy dinners, etceterah, not plunge me deeper into the bowels of the internet. The internet is a formidable adversary to actually living, but I'm off to prepare for a meeting.

i know this has passed, but so impressive, no?

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